Dealing with quality uncertainty in the supply chains of perishable agricultural produce: consideration of buyer-supplier geographical distance and the choice of procurement channel

摘要

Building on principal-agent and transaction cost theories, this study expands knowledge on quality uncertainty in agri-food supply chains by examining the antecedents of produce quality uncertainty including information asymmetry and the degree of produce perishability. It then examined buyer-supplier geographical distance and the choice of procurement channel as moderators of the effect of degree of produce perishability on quality uncertainty. In order to test the relationship among the research variables, four hypotheses were developed and tested with survey data from 239 food processing firms. The results show that information asymmetry and the degree of produce perishability have very strong positive influence on quality uncertainty. However, the influence of perishability is positively moderated by the degree of produce perishability and negatively by the choice of procurement channel.